The Italy interantional was pictured crying after being substituted in the 3-1 loss to Napoli last week but the Argentine insists the 23-year-old has the talent to decide a match single-handedly.

"Balotelli is a player who is in a position to win games by himself," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I don't think he is fragile, he's someone who just shows his feelings to others. For me, Milan are a strong team with a great club behind them who will try to do everything possible against us. We must be careful."

Simeone has led Atleti to a wave of success since taking charge of the club in late 2011 but refused to rule out coaching another of his former sides, Inter, in the future.

"It's true that Inter were good to me and I had a great adventure there," he continued.

"But I'd beat Milan mainly for Atletico. Right now I'm very happy here in Spain. In the future, we'll see if there's a chance I can coach Inter.

"I imagine the fans would appreciate me."

Milan and Atletico face each other at San Siro on February 19 before the second-leg clash in the Spanish capital on March 11.